AudCog 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Auditory Cognition in Cognitive Disorder
IRAS ID
292941
Contact name
Tim Griffiths
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle Joint Research Office
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 2 days
Research summary
Hearing loss between the ages of 45 to 60 is the biggest risk factor for dementia but the reasons for this are unclear. Understanding this link is crucial in order to see if interventions can help reduce this risk or whether special hearing tests can detect early dementia for treatment, when these become available.
This work will examine whether new types of hearing tests (e.g. memory for sounds and everyday hearing ability) are better than gold-standard neuropsychological tests to identify memory and thinking problems associated with dementia. It will also aim to identify neuroimaging markers that may explain hearing function.
In the future, a hearing test could be used with a blood test and brain scans to accurately identify common dementias like Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, this study will benefit any adult (>18 years) with or without hearing loss or cognitive impairment in the North East interested in dementia research. The study will be conducted at Newcastle University with participants, including patients with cognitive complaints and healthy volunteers from the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and the general population in the North East.
The study will last 5 years in total but each individual may only be involved for a year at a time. A participant will undergo a brain scan, an electroencephalogram (EEG) test which measures brain signals and tests of memory and thinking. This will last around 4 hours in total and is split over 2 days. Participants can also perform online tests of memory and thinking at 6 months and 1 year.
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/SC/0139
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jun 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion